


You Take Me Home To Glory's Throne

by AndreaLyn, el_gilliath



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pacific Rim Fusion, F/F, Immortals, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 04:42:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26347291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndreaLyn/pseuds/AndreaLyn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/el_gilliath/pseuds/el_gilliath
Summary: “You’ve seen us fight,” Joe says, grinning with pride, “and now it’s time for you to see us drift.”Nile dies and somehow, that isn't the craziest thing that happens that week. That privilege is reserved for being recruited by a group of immortals she's been dreaming about, who have dedicated the most recent years of their lives to fighting the kaiju. Learning who they are, how they fight, and where her place within the group lies is an unnerving task, but Nile's strong.She can handle it.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Nile Freeman, Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Comments: 42
Kudos: 156
Collections: Stories I will read again with pleasure





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The title for this comes from Depeche Mode's _I Feel You_. Tove and I can't thank [Winged_Fool](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winged_Fool/pseuds/Winged_Fool) enough for the beta of this piece. 
> 
> This one is our first cowrite together and basically happened because it was fresh off the release of the movie and I was convinced because I wasn't so sure about AUs, but this AU? Well, it felt like it fit (as is evidenced by all the incredible Pac Rim fusions!)
> 
> Please enjoy!

Nile wakes on a morgue bed, startled out of a nightmare.

Two men, hands clasped together as they march forward towards a battle. Another man with a glass of amber-colored liquid atop a control panel, cursing in French as he talks into a microphone. A woman, arms spread wide as she mans a two-person Jaeger on her own, and the flash of someone else floating in what seems like red water with lightning in it.

It’s a hell of a dream, but considering Nile just woke up from the dead, she thinks there are stranger things to worry about right now, like the fact that she just _died_. Nile rubs a hand over her throat, but finds no scar, no mark, no trace of what she knows happened. It’s impossible, and seeing as their world is under attack on the regular from giant alien lizards, Nile’s beliefs have already been stretched pretty far.

She’s distracted from the dream quickly by Dizzy and Jay’s appearance at the tent. 

“Nile,” Dizzy breathes, like she’s seeing a ghost.

“Hey guys,” Nile says, swallowing past the fear that she shouldn’t be alive. The same fear she can see in Dizzy’s eyes. 

“It’s good to see you up, Nile, we thought you were dead,” Jay says. She’s tentative, almost cautious in a way she never is but she’s still smiling. “How’s the war trophy?”

Nile puts a hand over her throat, trying to hide the fact that there’s no scar but it only draws attention to it, making both Dizzy and Jay inhale sharply.

“There’s not even a scar.”

Nile can feel her heart pounding at Dizzy’s words, can feel her palms start to sweat. “Yeah, the doctors did a new skin graft technique or something, something that came from kaiju research.”

“That what they said?”

She nods. It’s probably a lie, but how would they know. Kaiju research isn’t exactly the purview of Marines. And maybe it’ll keep them from discovering the truth. Not that she knows what that is. They don’t look convinced, but Nile doesn’t know what else to say. She doesn’t know what happened to her, because she’s supposed to be dead. She’s not. She’s here.

It just doesn’t make sense. 

It must be a feeling in the air, in the water, because her unit treats her like she’s some kind of social outcast the rest of the day. Every time she walks into a room, a hush falls over the air. They leave when she approaches. It’s like she escaped with her life from a close call, but instead of welcoming her back, they’re _scared_ of her.

Nile doesn’t want to admit it, but it kind of scares her too.

When she sleeps that night, she dreams of _them_ again. 

This time, when she wakes, she knows that it’s real. Those people are _real_ and they have something to do with the Jaeger program. “Freeman! There’s a message for you!” comes her CO’s call like somehow she knows that Nile’s woken up. 

“What kind of message?” 

“The kind that doesn’t want to wait much longer,” her CO replies with an annoyed edge. 

Nile grabs her jacket and pulls it on to wander out to see what the hell is going on, startled by two strange men waiting there, apparently for her. 

“Keep me out of this,” her CO mutters as she brushes past her, leaving Nile to deal with whatever _this_ is. 

“Ms. Freeman.”

She looks at the men standing in front of her. The one in a coat with the British accent she hasn’t seen before. The other one rumpled in a way that could be called fashion, if such a thing existed anymore and he didn’t look half dead on his feet. He’s familiar, in a way that he shouldn’t.

“You’re in my dreams.”

The other man smiles. “I am. My name is Sébastien, but everyone calls me Booker.”

“Why Booker?”

“My last name is… was le Livre.” He shrugs, his slight French accent more noticeable as he speaks the French sounding words. “It means the book. Andy thought it funny.”

“Sounds like a stupid joke to me,” Nile replies. She gets a warm feeling when he, Booker, laughs. 

“Oh, you and Andy will get along great.”

“Who’s Andy?”

The man in the coat and Booker share a look and Nile gets the feeling she might not like the answer. 

“Andy is the pilot of Scythian, I’m sure you know it’s one of our Jaegers,” the British one says. He nods respectfully at her when she looks at him. “My name is James Copley, I’m the administrator of the Hong Kong Shatterdome where the last Jaegers and their pilots are stationed.”

“You’re the one that contacted me.”

“Indeed I am. An official summon from a Shatterdome still holds weight with the military, even if the world is slowly losing faith in the Jaegers.” Copley and Booker share another look. “And you’re a very special individual, Ms. Freeman. You can do some good here.”

“How? How can I do good when you’ve got supposedly immortal people manning your Jaegers?” she asks exasperated, throwing her hands out to the side.

“Tell me Nile,” Booker says. “You got your throat cut, and you woke up like nothing happened. What do you think you are?”

She opens her mouth to reply but closes her mouth abruptly when Copley just nods at her. Her eyes widen as she actually catches the implication of what he’s saying. The implication of what her close encounter with the knife actually means.

“Oh shit.”

Booker just laughs, a short and tired laugh but still filled with something akin to understanding. “Exactly. Now come on, we still have some traveling to do.”

She doesn’t really know what else to do other than follow him, her mind spinning as they walk towards the helicopter that’s waiting, presumably to take them to the Shatterdome. All she knows for sure is that her world is about to turn upside down. _More_ upside down.

“My life ain’t never gonna be the same, is it.”

“Nope.”

The helicopter ride is short, out to a nearby airstrip. The plane ride is longer, but if they’re going to Hong Kong that’s not a surprise. What is a surprise to Nile is that she feels safe, for the first time in days. Safe enough to fall asleep. 

She jerks awake when they land, a bit unsure if she dreamt of them again or not. But from the way Booker looks at her calmly she probably didn’t. 

“I would apologize beforehand, but you’re a Marine so I’m sure you’ve seen some shit,” he says as the plane rolls to a stop. 

“It’s that bad?” she asks, worried despite herself. 

“No, it’s probably worse.” He glances over at Copley when he scoffs, grinning at the Brit who’s giving him a very epic look of disapproval. “Don’t give me that look, James. You know I’m right.”

Copley just shakes his head and walks briskly out of the plane. Booker follows, Nile behind them. The view that greets her is… no less than stunning. 

Perhaps she shouldn’t think that, knowing what the Shatterdomes were built for. But she’s always been fascinated by them, always wanted to visit one. And here she is. At the last place standing between humanity and kaiju. 

“You ready to see the inside?”

She turns to Booker, who’s waiting for her. He’s looking up at the dome as well, a tiny grimace on his face. Like he’s missed the place. Like it utterly pains him. She nods when his gaze turns towards her, and once again follows him into the unknown.

* * *

They’re an open secret, in the world they live in today. 

It’s a side effect of the world they live in and the far more dangerous things out there, with kaiju appearing up from the seas to destroy humanity and everything they hold dear?

They’ve helped for centuries, been on the hopeful-right side of countless battles throughout history but this is the biggest one yet. Their immortality makes them the strongest Jaeger pilots available because they can just keep going until their Jaeger is destroyed or the kaiju is dead. Andy feels bad for the new one. It’s a shit life to be roped into when you’re the best one for the job, but at least the new one is a Marine. She should be used to following orders.

She’s still trying to figure out how she got roped into this, even if it’s the same reason as always.

It’s an attempt to do the right thing.

“We can do some good, Andy,” Nicky had said, when he and Joe found their way into a simulation and discovered the _perfect_ drift compatibility they possessed. The prospect of a good battle had lured Andy, and where she went, Booker followed. 

He had tried to drift with each of the team, but while he knew the machines inside and out, he couldn’t pilot them. The last of their group, Quynh, joined as a secondary pilot should any of them need it, doing work around the base or with Booker to be able to stay with them. Her own near perfect drift compatibility with Andy shocked them all, even if it shouldn’t have, months into looking for a new co-pilot for Andy after she lost her first.

The program had built Jaegers commissioned just for them, but Booker had been the one to make them better with his unique knowledge of who they are and how they work -- Scythian and Longsword stand as gleaming towers and the peaks of Jaeger engineering of their time when finished. Andy fell in love with Scythian the moment she saw it, its obsidian black hull matching the color of her beloved battle axe, an outline of said axe barely visible on the back. A pride she did not know she could feel for a machine washes over her every time she looks at what’s become an extension of _her_ and everything that she is. 

She knows Nicky and Joe felt the same with Longsword, feels it still, the brilliant red with blue detailing and swatches of silver that match their swords just as beautiful, even if Joe wanted to call it Holy War. A suggestion Nicky quickly put an end to and would not accept a repeat of. In the end, the scimitar Booker installed made Joe beam with joy when he saw it and no other thought of renaming the Jaeger occurred.

Booker had been silent for days after they were finished, a bottle not far from his hand at most times. Their gratitude had been too much for him, their pride in him even more so, his depression not able to handle the good he had done for his team, regardless of how thrilled he had been that they approved of everything he had created for the giant machines that would act as their hands when their own just couldn’t reach. Booker coming out of his quarters on the fourth day sans bottle made all of them release a happy sigh of relief.

Their perfect machines hadn’t meant they were immune to loss. 

Andy knows that better than anyone. 

The new one is coming today. If nothing else, she’s damn grateful because she really could use an end to the dreams and Nicky’s steady insistence that they need to be there for her. That nagging conscience in the back of her mind is usually a good thing, but these days, she’s just tired, and every time she’s out in Scythian, it reminds her of…

 _Quynh_. 

Andy pushes that memory out of her mind, focusing on the present. Today’s the day the new kid arrives. 

Andy grabs her pillow and buries her face in it, willing to risk another dream to get some sleep while she can. She has the feeling that once Nile arrives, there won’t be much rest to be had at all.

* * *

Nile’s beginning to think that Booker doesn’t give many tours of the Shatterdome.

He doesn’t know anything about the mess hall or the classes they offer. He doesn’t even really seem to know too many of the other people here, but when she asks, all he says is that they’re “not like them” and that she’s better off not making deep attachments to anyone else. 

“Hey,” Booker calls, nodding for her to follow him when she starts drifting towards the combat room. “This is where we need to be.” 

That’s cryptic as fuck, but it doesn’t seem to be intentional on Booker’s part. She’s beginning to get the feeling that he’s just exhausted. She knows about immortals the same as everyone else does (mainly because they’re glorified as the best pilots they have and their strongest line of defense against the kaiju), but she never thought that she’d _be_ one. 

Nile follows him, not sure they are in the right place, because the mat is empty and no one else is here. 

“Uh…”

“Just wait,” Booker insists, collapsing into a tired sprawl on the nearby bleachers, like he weighs twice as much as he does. Nile’s still standing at attention, almost like she can’t shake the Marines even though she knows she’s already left that life behind. 

“What are we doing here?” she asks, glancing back to see that Booker’s uncapped a flask and he’s drinking heavily. 

He gestures to the mat. “Wait for it,” he says.

Wait for what?

The door opens and two men enter the room, deep in conversation with one another until they look up to see that they have company. “Booker!” one of them says with delight. His curls bounce slightly as he bounds over to practically sprawl out over him, hugging him like he can’t escape it. The other man has eyes like Nile has never seen before, moving slower towards her. It’s only when he’s close that she realizes that she’s seen him before.

“You were in my dreams,” Nile breathes out when it hits her that these are the two men who were curled up together.

“And you were in ours,” the man before her agrees, voice soft and tinged with an Italian accent. “I’m Nicky. That’s Joe,” he says, gesturing to where Booker is flinching from Joe’s probing pokes.

“We worry about this one when he goes away,” Joe says, turning a grin at her for a second before he’s back to poking at Booker. “He doesn’t take care of himself.”

“I was gone for a _day_ , Joe, and Copley was with me. No time for any permanent damage,” Booker replies, finally managing to shove Joe off him somewhat. “I’m fine.”

“You are not fine,” Nicky says, also walking over to Booker and gently running a hand through his unruly hair. “But we are glad to see you back.”

Booker grumbles but gets up and accepts the hug Nicky pulls him into. It makes something inside Nile twist. Like she wants in on the hug with three men she hardly knows. It’s weird, but what else is new these days. 

“So this is the new one,” Joe says after Nicky’s taken over what’s obviously a ‘making sure Booker is okay’ thing, Nicky and Booker conversing quietly in French. “Damn, you’re young.”

“You’re not?” She asks. She’s not surprised when he laughs. 

“Haven’t been young for a very long time. Though my Nicky keeps me feeling like I am.”

“Okay, I’m gonna leave you to it before the flowers start sprouting around you. Come find me in simulation when you’re done,” Booker says. He winks at Nile, bumps shoulders with Joe before he walks out of the room muttering under his breath in French. Joe watches him as he does, Nicky too, both with slight frowns on their face. Nile is woman enough to admit it makes her real curious.

“Nicky?”

“He is well. Having a tough day, but well.”

“Okay,” Joe says, leaning over to press a kiss to Nicky’s shoulder. He turns with a smile and okay, Nile’s officially in the room with the most brilliant heart eyes she’s ever seen. It’s really cute, but she still wants to know what she’s doing there.

“You’re here to watch us spar,” Nicky says as if he’s got a direct link to her brain. “Booker wants you to see how we fight since we’re very drift compatible.”

“You know it,” Joe injects with a grin and Nile can’t help but snort.

“I’m a Marine, I’ve seen people spar before you know.”

“Not like us you haven’t,” Joe replies, picking up a shinai from where it’s resting and throwing it to Nicky who catches it beautifully before picking one up for himself.

“It will be a good lesson, for what comes after,” Nicky says cryptically. Nile finds herself believing them. She doesn’t know how old they are, but she doesn’t doubt that they can teach her a lot. Even if they both look younger than Booker and not that much older than her.

It’s the way they move that gives them away, dangerously controlled and fluid in a way that speaks of experience. Years of it. She watches them circle around each other, back and forth, and is about to ask them when they’re actually starting when they move.

It’s quick enough that she has trouble catching the first movement but she hears the clash of the shinai clear as day. It startles her even though it probably shouldn’t.

She’s more prepared for the second clang of bamboo, concentrating so she can actually pay attention to their movements. They move around one another deliberately, weaving and skipping around like it’s not a spar, but, rather, like it’s a mating dance specifically made for the two of them. Joe is grinning, a wild, excited grin that makes Nile want to laugh in delight. Nicky is more reserved, a small smile only but the crinkling of his eyes betray the passion just the same.

It’s beautiful the way they move, though neither one lands a hit for reasons Nile doesn’t understand. She still watches, taking in the almost choreographed dance and taking notes of moves that are both similar and wildly different as their shinai clash against shinai but never against the other.

Until Nicky moves sharply to the left and catches Joe in the face with a hard rap. Their dance stops, freezing Nile in place. Until Joe grins even wider, turning his head to the left and spitting blood on the ground. She watches as intense heat enters Nicky’s eyes, Joe’s eyes filling with just as much heat. Goddamn it really is a mating dance for them.

Nile suddenly feels like she’s an intruder, even though this demonstration is for her.

The fight changes.

Nicky steps towards Joe, slowly, but Joe doesn’t back down. Instead, where Nicky steps forward with a left foot, Joe’s right foot drops back. This is a dance where the shinai have been all but forgotten. The bruising has already faded from Joe’s cheek (more proof that they’re like her) and the only remnant of the hit is the heated look on Joe’s face.

“You got me,” Joe says, clearly thrilled.

“One to nothing,” Nicky concurs, and as they circle one another, Nile gets a better look at Nicky’s face. He’s every bit as consumed as Joe is. “Make it even,” he challenges. 

The dance resumes. The shinai move so fast that it’s nearly a blur of motion. She gets the feeling they’d be fine if she blindfolded both of them, still able to connect with one another. Booker never said how long they’ve been alive, but Nile gets the sense that they’ve been _together_ for a long time.

Suddenly, Joe ducks a broad strike from Nicky’s shinai, sliding on his knees and swiping Nicky’s ankles so he lands with a hard thud on his ass. To anyone else, it looks like Joe got the upper hand, but Nile’s pretty observant.

She’d seen the way Nicky telegraphed his move, swung too high and too slow, like an invitation for Joe to go low. Once Nicky is on his ass, he squirms a little, fingers relinquishing the shinai as he waits. Joe crawls towards him on his knees, slowly moving to a straddle over his body. 

“One to one,” Joe counters. 

“You’re very clever, _amore_ ,” Nicky praises, abandoning the shinai for a different weapon. He moves his hands slowly up Joe’s torso, but Nile gets the feeling that he’s not intending to flip them so much as touch him given the slow journey his palms take. 

She clears her throat pointedly, trying to get their attention before she gets an eyeful of something she doesn’t want to see. Predictively it doesn’t work and the two of them keep going, Joe’s hand landing low on Nicky’s stomach. 

Nile clears her throat again, louder. It works that time, Joe’s gaze turning towards her. He sighs and gets up, clasping Nicky’s hand and pulling him up as he does. 

She’s not surprised they stay pressed close together for a while after they get up. Nor is she surprised when they share some filthy as fuck eye looks before they separate and pick up their shinai again. Nile only barely refrains from sticking her hands on her hips like some kind of disappointed teacher, if only because she’s a little amused at the show she just got.

If this is what everyone witnesses when they come through her, she’s shocked they don’t have more tourists. 

“You two were right,” Nile says, willing to be wrong on this one. “No one I know fights like _that_.” 

Nicky blushes slightly, but Joe doesn’t seem chastised in the least, clapping a hand on Nicky’s back as he laughs bright, loud, and breathlessly. “Hear that, Nicky? We’re a show,” he brags. 

“I think there is a different show she needs to see, now,” Nicky reminds Joe. “It’s time for you to join Booker,” Nicky tells her, his chest still heaving from the exertion of his sparring session with Joe. 

Nile gets the feeling if she weren’t there, they wouldn’t have stopped with Nicky’s hand hovering over the waistband of Joe’s sweats. Those old pictures of Turkish oil wrestling suddenly flicker in her mind and she’s instantly glad for their situational awareness. 

(Though, in the back of her mind, she has to wonder if they didn’t _invent_ the whole sport, which is yet another question to add to the list).

“Where are you two going?”

“You’ve seen us fight,” Joe says, grinning with pride, “and now it’s time for you to see us drift.” 

Nile feels herself getting excited. She’s always wanted to see someone drift, and if they fight that well she’s real curious about their numbers. 

“Do not get too excited, it’s only in simulation.” Nicky smiles. “Though I am sure you will see us in Longsword eventually.”

“We’re ten days removed from an event, it’ll probably be sooner rather than later,” Joe interjects, grabbing Nicky’s hand and they walk out of the combat room. Nile follows slightly behind them, looking around as they walk towards the simulation area, taking in how the people react to Nicky and Joe. Most smile, some frown. Though she suspects that’s got more to do with the conversation than them holding hands.

“Let us not hope for an event, _cuore mio_. Booker is still doing repairs to Longsword and Scythian after our last battle.”

“I’m not hoping for one, _ya amar_ , I’m just saying that it’s going to happen.”

“As long as it is not a category four, I detest them,” Nicky says with a grimace on his face which Joe leans over and kisses away as they walk in the door to where Booker is sitting.

“I’ll keep those nasty kaiju away from you.”

Booker makes a mock sound of disgust, laughing gruffly when Joe and Nicky scoff at him. “Get into the suits gentlemen, let’s show Nile what a good drift looks like.”

“I think you mean perfect,” Joe says with a finger point, grinning as Booker does another gruff laugh.

“Tout ce que tu veux, ma chérie.”

“It’s been a while since you called me darling,” Joe says, walking over and running his hand through Booker’s hair, not unlike Nicky did earlier, before he rests his hand on Booker’s shoulder. Booker says nothing in return, but his hand comes up to squeeze Joe’s. Nile is honest enough to admit that she doesn’t quite understand the affection they show Booker. Or more why they do it. But it’s nice.

“Come on, Joe. Let’s go drift,” Nicky says after a short minute. Joe gives another soft squeeze to Booker’s shoulder before he walks off with Nicky, into the actual simulation room. Nile watches as they suit up, full suits instead of the helmet she thought they used in simulation. Their suits are gorgeous, red with swatches of blue and silver, just like Longsword. They seem at home in them, like they’re a second skin. It’s just… _cool_ to see.

“Let me know when you’re ready,” Booker tells them through the mike, starting up the drift machine and pressing what seems like a thousand buttons and Joe and Nicky connect to the machinery, connecting wires and equipment for one another.

“Isn’t it usual for a technician to help them with that?” Nile asks.

“Yes, but they like doing it themselves. The technicians or I help them in Longsword since it’s a bit more complicated when you’re connected to an actual Jaeger, but in simulation they can do it themselves.” Booker says. “I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that the two of them are touchy feely when they can.”

“No, that I got in the combat room.”

Booker doesn’t say anything but she can see the amused glint in his eyes. Asshole.

“Ready, Booker,” Nicky says.

“You ready?” Booker asks her. She nods, she’s really ready to see a drift first hand. “Okay com pod simulation online and holding steady. Pilot to pilot sequence initiating.”

Nile can hear the computerized voice repeating Booker’s words as the system starts but all she can do is watch, her eyes huge as light after light is lit on Booker’s interface, showing the drift actually beginning to form before her very eyes. Brainwaves and renderings of Joe and Nicky show their brain lighting up as the drift initiates, complex math and equations showing how the system boots.

“Neural handshake in ten seconds. 9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1.” The computer lights up, the gleaming neural handshake complete making Nile grin. “Neural handshake holding strong and steady. Right hemisphere, calibrated. Left hemisphere, calibrated. Congratulations, the drift is a go.”

The computer changes from neutral handshake complete, to a blinking calibration complete, the brainwaves showing them to be in complete sync and Nile can barely hold her excitement. Even their heartbeats and breath synchronizes as shown by the rendering on the screen. They might not be in a Jaeger, but getting to see _this_ , a real drift is still extremely cool.

Joe and Nicky are completely quiet, their eyes closed. She watches them, her gaze moving then to Booker who’s still clicking away. She’s dying to see their numbers.

“Simulation scenario starting. You wanted to show Nile your perfect numbers, Joe, this is your chance.”

Joe’s eyes flicker, as does Nicky’s as amused smiles grace their faces. But they obviously do as Booker says, even if they don’t speak out loud. Their eyes open, and they begin moving. Moving in a way Nile didn’t expect, even after seeing them spar. Their synchronized moves are insane. Gorgeous, but insane.

“The numbers you see there," Booker says, pointing to the drift compatibility that Nile thinks has to be faked. "That's the reason why 3 out of 5 sparring sessions end with them making out on the mats, and the rest usually ends with them making out elsewhere."

“Yeah you should’ve warned me about that, asshole,” she replies, punching him in the shoulder. She freezes after she’s done it, but Booker just snorts.

“Now where would be the fun in that?” 

Nile takes the seat that Booker’s offering her, pulling herself closer to the window. She’s read about the Jaeger program before. Once, she’d even debated enlisting before she chose the Marines, but it feels different now that she’s lost out on her team. Maybe it’s just that she doesn’t think this is much of a choice so much as her life. 

The scores are off the charts and Nile watches the way that Nicky and Joe work in tandem together, as if they’re reading each other’s minds. Obviously, they are, they’re in the drift. There, they’re closer to being one person.

“Is everyone like that?” she asks, in awe of the fluidity and the ease with which Nicky and Joe move.

“Only if you’re very lucky.”

Booker sounds miserable for it, but Nile barely pays any attention to it. She’s far too busy watching the numbers and how Joe and Nicky move. It holds so damn steady she’s afraid to take her eyes off the numbers in case they do change, but not watching Joe and Nicky seems like a crime.

“Damn they look good.”

“Why thank you,” Joe suddenly replies, startling her. “Told you we have perfect numbers.”

“Yeah, you weren’t kidding,” Nile murmurs to herself. The scenario seems to be coming to a close, the level three kaiju burning on screen. She’s not surprised it didn’t take them all that long, knowing the drift was more for her benefit than actual training. She still watches in awe as the kaiju dies on screen, scenario complete appearing on screen as the simulation powers down. It was amazing, inspiring. Thrilling. She’s never wanted to be in a Jaeger more.

The simulation shuts down after that, slowly but surely, as not to hurt Joe and Nicky when they come out of the drift, even that’s impressive to her. It just seems so natural, the way it goes. She notices they don’t talk, but after a drift with numbers like that, she’s not surprised.

“So?” Booker spins in his chair. Suddenly, she’s the focus while Joe and Nicky disconnect. “You ready to take us out for a spin?”


	2. Chapter 2

Why does this feel so weird? 

Nile adjusts her grip on the shinai, trying to figure out where to put her weight. This isn’t exactly the kind of fighting she’s trained for, but it’s what they use to test for drift compatibility. “How many people am I fighting?” she asks warily, watching as Booker takes off his denim jacket, pushing his hair back into place. “...are you fighting me?”

“They don’t put us with anyone mortal,” Booker says. “And yeah, we’re fighting,” he agrees. “I’m the entry-level test, but don’t worry,” he assures, tapping her bamboo shinai with his. “I’ll fail out pretty quickly.” 

Nile lets her gaze flicker over him warily. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I know I don’t look it these days, but I was a soldier, too. I fought alongside Napoleon.”

Nile’s eyes widened. “Are you _serious_?”

“You think that’s old?” Booker laughs, tapping her shinai again. “Nicky and Joe met killing one another in the Crusades. Word of warning, make sure they’re clear of the drift if you get them going, or they forget to talk out loud,” he says, rapping bamboo against bamboo again, clearly trying to taunt her into action. “Don’t worry. This won’t end like Joe and Nicky’s sessions do.”

She eyes him warily, but lifts her shinai up, reflexively falling back into the stance she’s been trained to use. Whatever she’s expecting of Booker, what comes isn’t it. He fights with a brash and brute strength where the shinai doesn’t seem much like a weapon, but an extension of his own fists. 

It’s staccato thrusts, stumbling feints, and it’s pretty much all Nile needs to see to know that he doesn’t do this very often.

“Are you _sure_ you want to do this?” she asks him again. 

Glancing to the side, she can see Joe and Nicky entering. She suspects they’re her next test, but she also doesn’t want to school Booker with an audience.

Until he moves, not as quick as Joe and Nicky but still quick enough, and suddenly she’s on her back, looking up at Booker who just shrugs. 

“Told you I was a soldier.”

Joe whoops in the background and Nile has to hold her laughter as Booker rolls his eyes. Exhausted and sarcastic he might be but he’s still funny. 

“Okay, point taken,” she says as she accepts the hand he holds out to her, letting him pull her back on her feet. “Don’t underestimate any of you.” 

Once she’s back on her feet, Booker manages to get in a few more hits. Nile rolls with it, rubbing at the bruises until the ache vanishes (it’s getting faster, she’s noticed), learning the whole time. He fights with brute force, but little grace. If you didn’t know what you were doing, then you’d be in trouble.

Nile isn’t someone who doesn’t know what she’s doing.

Booker gets in a fifth hit, but it’s his last.

She knows how he moves, now. She knows to expect a fist once the shinai has contacted hers with reverberating force. She ducks, working to take him off balance with a heel to his instep, a knee to the small of his back, and the shinai pressed in a stranglehold once she’s behind him. If this is supposed to be a dance, then Nile’s pretty sure she just beat Booker up on the dance floor after the tango.

They’re not drift compatible, but it’s clear that Booker hadn’t been expecting them to be. Something tells her he doesn’t want them to be either. It’s only a test, a fight to prepare her for what comes next. She's not completely sure she appreciates it though she does understand why. 

“Good,” he says from the floor, breathing deeply. “Now you get to fight _them_.”

He points to Joe and Nicky. Nile’s eyes widen. 

“Both of them? At the same time?” She asks, helping Booker up from the floor. 

“Yes,” Nicky replies. He’s walking over, Joe walking slightly behind him. She’s amused to notice that Joe is paying more attention to Nicky’s ass than anything else. Booker’s probably more used to it but he still snorts (though that might be for her benefit), making Joe look up at him and wink. 

“You’re incorrigible.”

“You know it,” Joe says with another wink, Booker shaking his head as he picks up his denim jacket. “You staying?”

“Oui.”

Joe and Nicky both smile at him when he says yes, Nile can’t help but smile too. She doesn’t know them that well yet, but she does appreciate the love she’s seen between the three men. They’re obviously family and not afraid to show it. It’s refreshing, after what happened with her team. 

“Okay, so now I have to beat you two?”

“No, you do not have to beat us,” Nicky replies. “Chances are you will fail. But show us your best moves, try your very best.”

“Are you sure you didn’t miss your calling as a motivational speaker instead of doing this Jaeger thing?” she has to ask. She doesn’t miss how Joe and Booker both pretend to cough so they don’t laugh out loud. 

Nicky just smiles, picking up the shinai that he and Joe left behind earlier. “I’ve lived a very long time, Nile. I am capable of both.”

She accepts that at face value, she wouldn’t be shocked if someone told her that Nicky could do pretty much whatever he set his sights on. Joe either, for that matter. She still feels a tendril of dread when Joe picks up a shinai as well, him and Nicky settling into mirroring stances opposite her. She’s going to lose so bad, she just knows it.

She’s quickly reminded of what a force she just saw them be, both in training and in simulation when she quickly finds herself tapped twice in rapid succession, with no possibility of blocking or escaping. They’re caging her in like they would a kaiju. Though not as deadly, she still has thoughts of her being the prey and they the predators. She doesn’t find it in herself to be surprised, not if they’ve been together since the Crusades. It just means they’ve had 900 years to perfect their partnership. And it shows.

She still tries her very best, giving them as good as she’s got. She gets a hit in on Joe, who grins as if she’s missed, and just the barest there brush on Nicky, who nods encouragingly. But even if they all know she’s going to lose spectacularly, she finds herself having the most fun she’s had in a while. And she’s doing good, which admittedly feels great. She knows they’re being kind, not going easy on her in any way, but still kind, letting her show off the training she has and giving her some time to recover so she can continue getting familiar with the shinai and learning the best way to move against the two of them. It’s still a brutal fight, one of the most taxing she’s ever had, her muscles burning as they keep going. She can feel her brain working just as much as her muscles, trying to find angles in which she can get in hits. She doesn’t get many, but the few she gets are met with grins and approval. It feels damn good.

“Shit,” Nile gasps, once she’s been pinned on the floor with Joe’s shinai blocking one side and Nicky’s on the other. She has no escape and they know it. “I yield,” she promises, dropping her shinai to the ground with a clatter.

She’s not surprised.

They already work together so perfectly in sync, she couldn’t imagine ending up their third.

She’s fought Booker, she’s taken on Joe and Nicky. “There’s another one, isn’t there?” she asks, turning to Booker. “You said her name when you came to get me. Andy?”

“That’s me.” 

Nile hadn’t even heard her enter the room, but she’s in the middle of wrapping her wrists and hands like she’s already been there for a few minutes. She watches Andy cross the room, her eyes fixed on her, and holds out the shinai. 

Andy shakes her head. “That’s not how we’re going to fight.”

Nile bristles, holding the shinai out again. “I’m pretty sure this is how it’s supposed to be.”

There’s a hushed echo of laughter from the gallery, so Nile is glad those assholes are enjoying this. She’s not. She doubles down, pushing out the shinai to Andy _again_ , wanting to do this right.

“No,” Andy says again. “You want to fight me, you want to prove yourself? You do it my way.”

“I thought this was the way for Jaeger pilots to prove themselves.”

“Regular pilots, yes. Immortals, we do it differently.”

Nile throws her shinai away, her teeth grinding. “Fine. Your way.” 

She’s not inexperienced. She’s been taught combat by some of the finest talents the military has to offer, but it becomes clear in _seconds_ that she doesn’t know shit next to Andy. If she’d thought Booker, Nicky, and Joe had been furious storms, then Andy is a hurricane bearing down on her. Nile doesn’t even have time to think before she’s taking the first few hits, howling with pain when Andy twists her arm behind her back so sharply that the bones crack.

Only, there’s something about the winds of this hurricane that Nile can bear. 

Smooth as anything, she uses the new angle and grabs hold of Andy’s wrist, going dead weight and collapsing on the floor, rolling Andy over her as the elbow knits back into place. She doesn’t have long for her pride, seeing as Andy is balancing on her knee, eyeing Nile like she’s planning a new strategy. 

“How old are you?” Nile asks.

“No talking,” is Andy’s sharp retort, pushing to a sprint from her knees. She’s not telegraphing her punches, but there’s something about the way her body moves that Nile can anticipate, ducking left, right, and then down when Andy brings both hands together in an attempt to clap the hell out of her eardrums.

Nile staggers back, knowing that she might be playing a good defensive, but that’s all she’s managing so far. Andy’s got her on the ropes, not giving her an opening to attack. “Why don’t you want to use the shinai?”

Andy doesn’t say it, but she doesn’t have to.

“No talking,” Joe chides from the bleachers nearby. 

Nile makes the mistake of glancing towards him, and it gives Andy an opening. Her fist crumples against Nile’s jaw, sending her staggering back. It also makes her _really_ mad. It’s not a fair fight, and she’s here to prove herself, not get distracted by the peanut gallery. 

“Come on,” Andy says. “Is that all you got?”

“Hell no,” Nile guarantees, and decides that enough is enough. She’ll heal from whatever damage Andy deals her, but she’s not fighting on her heels anymore. 

She closes her eyes for a second, knowing that any longer will give Andy an opportunity that Nile is done giving. She packs a lot into that moment, soothing herself as she lets a wave wash over her, eager for the challenge. The adrenaline pulses through her and it’s like she already knows that this is a fight that’s fair. 

Andy probably knows a lot more than she does, but she’s not a brawler like Booker and she doesn’t have to fight Joe and Nicky, who act more like extensions of each other. 

There hasn’t been another punch. Andy’s waiting for her.

That’s her first mistake. Nile puts all her force into a right jab, but when Andy goes to defend herself from it, she ducks to sweep Andy’s foot out from under her.

Or she would have, if Andy hadn’t hopped back, like she’d anticipated it. Andy’s eyes are wide with intrigue, staring at Nile as if she’s never seen her before. It sends a ridiculous amount of pride through Nile, because _damn right she should respect her_. She might be young, but she’s good. Nile follows up with a one-two punch that Andy defends with her palms, twisting her wrists to send Nile stumbling back. 

Somehow, Nile doesn’t even know how, Andy gets a hand on her chin and lifts her up, toes dangling on the ground. She’s still got that look in her eye, but this close, Nile can see that it’s not just amazement.

There’s _fear_. 

Instead of fighting, Nile allows her body to completely go dead weight, putting the burden on Andy to hold her up. It’s not what she’s expecting and her grip goes slack, giving Nile the chance to back away. 

“She’s got you, boss!” Booker roars from the sidelines. 

Nile ignores the jab. She ignores the clinking of glass that tells her they’re drinking (and she’s sure they’re probably betting on it too). The only thing in the universe that exists is Andy, looming like a goddess in front of her. Every bruise heals within seconds, any ache vanishes, and it leaves Nile wondering just how long these immortals can spar for. 

“Do you even get tired?”

“We’re immortal, not superheroes,” Andy replies. “Are you tired?”

She shakes her head rapidly, breathing hard as she fights to control her intake. Here she’d been thinking maybe there would be some kind of side-benefit to being immortal, but it looks like she’s tethered by the same limits as always with the one new exception -- can’t get hurt, can’t die, can’t be put down.

Kneeling from where she’d crumpled on the ground, Nile takes a page out of Joe’s book. 

Andy’s waiting for Nile to get back on her feet, to her level. Nile gives her what she expects, on her feet as she charges, but when she gets close, she slides on her knees and reaches for the shinai at the sidelines to smack against Andy’s achilles, knowing that it’s not playing fair, but that seems to be Andy’s style of fighting. 

“Motherfu…” Andy collapses, but she doesn’t go down easily. 

She falls back on her ass, but not before she seizes two fistfuls of Nile’s shirt and hauls her in her arms. The shock of the impact sends the shinai out of Nile’s hands and gives Andy a momentary upper hand that allows her to roll them over and pin Nile to the ground. Nile’s panting for breath, squirming to try and get up, but Andy only tightens her knees. 

“What the hell did you teach her, Joe?” Andy growls, not taking her eyes off of Nile.

“Only the best,” Joe vows. Nile chances a look at the sidelines where Booker is collecting what looks like cash from Nicky. “She fights dirty,” he says, pushing himself off the bleachers to enter the ring. 

Nile glances back to Andy, lost in the nuance of what’s going on. “Are we done?”

“Andy,” Nicky says, “That was good. That was good enough for a simulation, I think.”

Something he’s said is like he’s said a magic word. Andy practically vaults off of Nile, staring down at her, then over to the men. Nile sits up, reaching out for Joe and Booker’s hands for the assistance up, but she doesn’t get why Andy looks so wracked with pain after such a good fight.

She must have felt it too, right? There’s no way she could ignore what just happened.

“No,” is all Andy says. It’s brusque and cold, and it sounds final.

“Andy,” Booker groans.

“I said no,” Andy snaps. 

“You know he’s right, boss,” Joe tries. The look Andy levels him with makes him go silent as well. Nile can only watch as turmoil runs through Andy like a live current, Booker, Nicky, and Joe watching her with open and honest expressions on their faces. 

Andy swallows, hard. “No. And that’s final.”

She turns around and strides out of the room. Nile doesn’t know what she’s disappointed about, she didn’t expect anything. But the disappointment still sits like the heaviest of rocks in her belly. 

“I’ll talk to her,” Nicky says before he follows Andy’s path out of the room. Joe gives her an encouraging smile before he too follows. 

“Come on,” Booker stops next to her. “I’ll show you to your quarters.”

She has no choice but to follow him.

* * *

The nightmares came back the day Nile arrived, because _of course_ they did.

_Some days Andy feels like they’ve done more good in a Jaeger than they’ve done any other time. Other days she feels like they fail more than ever before, especially when they get blamed for the destruction of towns, the ruining of lives. If they’re immortal they should be able to keep people safe. Failing to do so makes her feel inadequate. Losing Lykon was hard, a mere five years into the fight, seeing his bloody and bleeding nose as they got out of Scythian after a fight, his wounds never closing and bruises never disappearing until he was dead on the floor beside her._

_She took another chance when Quynh suggested she test with her, another immortal in the cockpit probably a better fit than a regular human. And it was, the compatibility between her and Quynh even better than hers with Lykon, in many ways._

_Their trust and admiration, love even more so, on par with that of Nicky and Joe. It was a perfect match, one that lasted for a long time, their connection always growing stronger and stronger._

_She remembers, every time she closes her eyes, knowing something was wrong from the second the drift initiated. Remembers how she couldn’t figure it out, and pushed past her uncertainty because Quynh was urging them to go, to get this fight over with. Excited and thrilled to do good things the way she always was, her beloved Quynh._

_She remembers the rage and horror as she looked over at Quynh mid battle, to see her nose bleeding. Remembers the panic of seeing what happened to Lykon happen to her, her concentration lost for long enough to allow a kaiju to rip open their Jaeger and drag Quynh to the ocean, her screaming stuck in Andy’s head like a blanket that swallows her whole every night, day, minute, hour._

_She doesn’t remember killing the kaiju. She doesn’t remember getting herself and her Jaeger back to shore and safety. She doesn’t remember being found hours later by Nicky and Joe, frantic with worry and so very scared._

_She’s been told she cried. She doesn’t remember that either._

Andy doesn’t startle awake.

She’s too old to be shaken from her nightmares like a child. Instead, she opens her eyes to the dark, thinks that she’s still alive to face a new day, and that she needs something to drink. Thankfully her stash isn’t far away from the bed. She’s far too used to terrors haunting her dreams at the worst time to not have a bottle of _something_ close. Today’s choice is apparently vodka, a good choice.

She unscrews it and takes a large swallow, feeling the alcohol burn as it goes down. That’s the stuff. The burn might not last for long but she would rather the burn be good than some shitty ass drink that tastes like rat poison. She’s drunk enough of that over the years. Drunk more than enough of it alongside Booker in particular.

She takes another pull of the bottle. She has to get up, has to go about her day. She needs to, if she’s going to have any chance at observing _her_ before she eventually meets up with the team. Booker is already out to pick the new one up, Copley with him. They’ll be back before long and Andy. Andy doesn’t want to be caught off guard. She’s the leader, the first. She has to be on top of her game. She has to be ready.

_She doesn’t want to lose another one._

She gets up and leaves her room, going about her day like she usually would. Food, training, Scythian. Always Scythian. She sits in the com pod, knowing no one will disturb her there, following as the day goes by for signs of Booker returning. She knows the minute they do, feels it in the pit of her stomach, sees it on her datapad that Booker painstakingly taught her how to use (a test of patience for them both).

 _She’s_ young, so very young. Like a baby. Andy can appreciate the way she follows Booker without hesitation, without fear. That doesn’t mean she’ll be any good. Doesn’t mean she’ll fit where Andy secretly wants her to. Here she can admit it, in the com pod of Scythian which has housed her continued strength for so many years. Out there, she won’t. Not ever. 

It’s where she runs to after her spar with Nile. The one place she feels safer than anything when she has to be alone. When she has to rein in her emotions and not scream into the void about how _shit_ she thinks the world is being. She’s too old to be screaming like a child. She’ll save her screams for the kaiju. At least with them she can rage and no one will say anything or ask her how she’s _feeling_.

Once she’s finished with Scythian, Andy has to face what she’s been avoiding. Eventually, she’ll run into Nile and have to explain why she shut her down, but that’s not her first hurdle. 

That comes from a completely expected source, sneaking into Scythian to have the talk she’s been expecting since she stormed out of the training room. 

“You know she will be good for you, boss,” Nicky says quietly behind her.

Andy closes her eyes. She’s tired, so very, very tired of manning Scythian alone, even if she loves her Jaeger from the first wire to the last bolt that holds it together. She’s 6732 years old, or something like that, she’s been fighting for so long that she doesn’t quite know if she’ll ever be able to stop. But being able to fight _with_ someone again, after Lykon, after Quynh, after trying with Booker. She’ll be heartbroken if it doesn’t work. And she’ll be alone. Again.

“What if it doesn’t work, Nicky? What if something happens? I don’t know if I can go through that again.”

“You have to have some faith. Together you can do some good.”

She turns to Nicky. Walks over, stands close enough that she could hug him if she wanted to. A part of her doesn’t dare, even if it’s Nicky. But if she stands close enough... He will always hug her close if she needs it.

“What if I’m too scared?”

Nicky tugs her close then, hugs her tight the way she secretly wants, his arms going around her in the warm embrace she can always get from her crew, her _family_ if she gives any indication that she needs it. She hugs him back, her hand low on his neck as she leans her forehead against her temple. She keeps forgetting how much her boys can calm her down if she needs it. How much strength they will give her from just a simple hug.

“You won’t be,” Nicky whispers in her ear, conviction and certainty in his voice. She wishes she had as much faith in herself as the boys do. “You’re not alone, Andy. You have us, and if you let her, you’ll have Nile. She’s very good at what she does and I haven’t seen anyone fight with you like that since…”

He doesn’t say it. He knows better. 

“The least you can do is try a simulation together,” Nicky suggests again, ever the sane voice of logic and calm. He knows that there’s no reason not to. Sparring had been one thing, but a simulation doesn’t mean they’re signing up to be partners either. Piloting Scythian on her own is hell, but she can cope if it means she doesn’t lose another one.

Still, Nicky’s probably right.

Who is she kidding?

He’s right about a lot of things, down to and including the chance to do a lot more good if she’s not straining and splitting herself at the seams. Nile’s not Booker; she and Andy can probably drift. 

Nile’s not Quynh, either. Maybe that’s a good thing.

She wants to run the hypotheticals with him and demand what will happen if she loses another one. Andy doesn’t want to confess that she’s not brave enough to do that, especially not when she still suspects that Quynh is out there, even if their constant scans of the bottom of the ocean floor turn up nothing. If she loses Nile, then it’s Andy’s fault. It’s on her. 

She’s not sure she can do that again.

Then again, it would be good to have a partner and Nile’s good. She could be great. Better than that, she could be the relief Andy needs to battle the kaiju assholes who are so keen to take over this planet. “One simulation,” she says. “Just to see how it goes.”

Nicky’s got that smug look on his face, which is expected. He just got everything he wanted.

“I’ll tell Booker,” Nicky shares, swaying excitedly on his feet. “You should go and tell Nile the good news. I think she will be very excited to hear it.” 

_Not as excited as you_ , Andy wants to say, but settles for a pointed raise of her brow at the way Nicky can’t seem to sit still.

“Just tell me one thing, Nicky. Why are you so adamant I do this?”

“Because you have been alone for too long, boss,” he tells her honestly. “And you do not deserve to be.”

He’s always been so damn soft-hearted. For once, though, Andy thinks maybe she needs it to contrast the steel around her own. Maybe it is time that she gives someone else a chance, if only to get herself back in the game.


	3. Chapter 3

Even though Nile’s suited up for the simulation, she’s still not entirely sure she believes that Andy’s come around. It’s really infuriating that no one will _tell_ her why Andy had freaked out on her like that, even if Nile gets that it’s Andy’s story to tell.

Does it matter? She’s here, in the simulation, watching Booker hook Andy up as he speaks to her, too softly for Nile to overhear. Instead she watches out of the corner of her eye as Andy places a hand on Booker’s neck, giving him a soft squeeze that seems almost too kind for her. Not because Nile doubts she can be, but because so far she hasn’t witnessed anything that tells her Andy will let others see when she’s being kind. She seems too guarded, too much of a leader for such a simple emotion. And yet here she is, showing Booker while he straps her in.

“You okay?” Booker asks as he comes over after strapping in Andy. She doesn’t reply, can only nod and Booker starts on her, connecting her to the simulation harness, showing her how she can do some things on her own if she wishes, quietly explaining what goes where on the suit. It’s not a Scythian suit, no gleaming black on hers like the one Andy’s is wearing. Instead it’s plain white, a common suit used to test potential pilots before they’re allowed anywhere near a Jaeger.

She’s nervous, terrified, even. It overshadows any excitement she’s feeling. It grows as Booker straps her further in. It grows even more as Booker gives her a sharp nod and a small smile before he walks out to the control room where Nicky and Joe are waiting for him.

The door closes behind him and she’s alone. With Andy. Nervous, terrified and without words.

“Here,” Andy points at the floor at her feet. “Put your feet down hard when you step into the boot, it helps with the locking and you’ll feel more secure.”

Andy steps in first, demonstrating how. Nile follows. And suddenly she can breathe a bit easier. They’re actually doing it, Andy isn’t going to back out.

“You’re not…”

“I promised Nicky one simulation.” Andy looks at her. “Show me what you got, kid.”

Nile wants to bristle at being called kid, but she doesn’t, just nods instead and adjusts her helmet. This is her chance, she’s not gonna screw it up by being a hot head.

“You ready, ladies?” Booker asks. “All right, com pod simulation online. Pilot to pilot sequence initiating,” he continues as they both nod.

The neural handshake happens quicker than she realizes after that. Ten seconds, a sharp breathe and boom. She’s in a drift.

She sees herself as a young kid, running around with her brother. Sees Andy as a young kid, running around with three younger girls. Sees herself as a teen, angry and sad over her dad but determined to _make_ something of herself. Sees Andy with an axe, cleaving her way through the battlefields. Sees herself with Dizzy, J, her squad. Sees Andy with Joe, Nicky, Booker. A dark-skinned man. Piloting Scythian with an Asian woman.

It all goes by so fast, like a running movie in her head. It makes her dizzy, unsure, unsafe. And suddenly she’s eleven, standing in front of her father’s grave.

She frowns, wondering why she’s here. She’s not supposed to be here, she’s doing something important. She can’t remember what it was. Instead the intense grief of losing her dad fills her, rushing down her spine and filling her veins like a poison she needs to expel. She sees flashes of her dad, how he held her, how he laughed with her, how he loved her. Anger joins the grief in her veins and she gags. She shouldn’t be back here, she shouldn’t be back here _she shouldn’t be back-_

“Nile!”

She’s abruptly thrust back into her body, her mouth open as she gasps for air. She meets Booker's eyes through the glass, paler than she’s ever seen him before, sees Nicky and Joe clutching each other’s hand hard while casting worried looks Booker’s way. She turns to Andy. Andy who’s watching her with big eyes, her nostrils flaring, her fists tight. Her entire frame is tense and Nile knows she fucked up.

“What happened?” She asks.

Andy swallows hard. “You chased the RABIT.”

“Shit. I’m sorry, I guess I got-”

“You got caught up in the death of your dad.” Andy turns to the control room. “Booker, end the simulation.”

“What, no, Andy-”

“We’re done.”

The computerized voice in the background tells Nile the neural handshake has been disengaged, that the com pod simulation is shutting down. She watches Andy step out of the boot as it comes to a close, watches her remove as much of the equipment that she can herself before Booker comes over and helps her with the rest. She watches Andy give her a long, hard look. And then she’s gone, walking briskly out of the simulation room. Nicky and Joe give Booker a look before they go after her.

Nile just stays. She’s hooked up to all this machinery, she was going to show off her chance. Hope for numbers that were close-ish to Nicky and Joe’s. Instead she’s alone, and her shot is gone.

She slowly starts removing the equipment that she can. Booker helps her, a calm presence even if she can sense some sort of turmoil. But none of them speak. She can’t, yet. And she can sense that Booker knows that.

It’s when she steps out of the boot and takes her helmet off that it really hits her. She knows all about the RABIT, Random Access Brain Impulse Triggers. You’re not supposed to chase your memories in the drift, rather let them flow past and around you, using them to stabilize the neural handshake. But she did. She chased it. And now her memory of her father’s death is just a little bit stronger.

She hates it.

“I didn’t mean to,” she says. Her voice is quiet, but she knows Booker hears her from the way he sighs.

“Come on, let’s go sit down. The drift is always hard the first time.”

“You’ve drifted?”

Booker laughs humorlessly. “Yeah, Nile. I’ve drifted many times.”

“But you’re not a pilot. Why?”

Booker leads her into the control room. He all but launches himself into his seat, heavier than Nile has probably ever seen him before. She sits down in the other chair and waits. Watches him close down the programs that control the simulators, watches as he closes down the computers until they’re in a room that’s almost devoid of light, as he finishes off a bottle that smells like cheap whisky. She waits a bit longer, she knows he’ll tell her when he’s ready.

“Do you know what happens, if you chase the RABIT too many times?”

She looks at Booker, her brow furrowed. She doesn’t understand where he’s going with this, she only lost herself once. She’s not planning on doing it again, she can’t. She still shakes her head when he glances over. He fetches another bottle from… somewhere and meets her eyes as he opens it and takes a big swig.

“When you’re like us, things are different. You can lose yourself once, twice, and be fine. But when you do it over and over. And over. The RABIT follows you back inside your brain.” He takes a deep breath, another hard swig of the bottle. Nile feels dread creep up and down her back. “My wife, my _children_ have been dead for centuries, Nile. And because of the RABIT I see them clear as day.”

Her mouth drops open as what he’s insinuating hits, her eyes widening as she tries to understand.

“I wake up, _smelling_ her perfume as if she’s right next to me in bed. I hear my youngest, Jean-Pierre, laugh in my ear as if he’s still riding my back. I hear my oldest, Matthieu, complain about his homework from the room next door. I hear Alexandre, the one in the middle, complain about his younger brother not leaving him alone and Matthieu ignoring him over breakfast. I’m tired, and I forget that they’re dead because of how clearly I hear them. I’m drunk, and I see them before me as if they were a movie.” Booker closes his eyes. “I see them dying, hatred in their eyes because I couldn't share my gift. I hear them tell me that my love for them isn’t real since I didn’t stop it.”

Another swig, another hard swallow, and Nile feels like she wants to vomit.

“I’ve tried again, and again. And now I have to live with the pain of them being there, when I know I will not meet them again for a very long time” he says. His eyes feel like they’re drilling into hers, her soul feels caught on fire. She understands better now, why Andy freaked out when she lost herself. Why Nicky and Joe held hands so tightly their knuckles turned white.

Why Joe hugged him tightly, why Nicky ran his fingers through his hair, why Andy put her hand on his neck and squeezed softly as if to ground him. All the touches and affection they show him, that he returns in kind. They’re helping him not chase the RABIT when he’s awake.

“I’m so sorry,” she says. There’s nothing else she can say.

“Don’t be,” Booker replies. “Just don’t repeat my mistakes. For your own sanity, do not follow the RABIT.”

She doesn’t have alcohol to help her through this, but she wrings her hands. She doesn’t want to disappoint them by falling prey to the same mistakes Booker has, but there’s a fear that lingers just out of reach that she’s scared to vocalize. It seemed like it took everything for them to convince Andy to give her a chance and Nile had taken it and messed up during their first run.

“Is Andy going to shut our partnership down?” Nile asks, worried that she’ll never get a chance to drift with her again. She knows she’s messed up by chasing after her memories, but the thought of losing the connection with Andy terrifies her, helped along with a strong sense of failure that Nile wants to beat back.

She’s better than this, she can do it, even if she’s absolutely terrified.

Booker shakes his head. “No,” he says. “We won’t let her.”

That makes it sound like Andy _will_ want to end it. “I need another chance,” she insists. “I’ll prove that I can do this, that I’m not going to lose myself.”

“Nile,” Booker hushes her, his energy low, but his voice firm. “You’ve already seen us in action. Andy might be the oldest of us, the most stubborn, and sometimes the _stupidest_ , but she listens. Trust me, we won’t let her give up on this so soon.”

She trusts him, knows it deep inside her soul that he’s telling the truth. She still worries, but does her best to keep the worry low as she spends the next few days with Nicky, Joe, or Booker, sometimes all three. They give her tips on how to avoid the RABIT, play cards to keep her mind occupied and tell silly stories from their long lives to help her stay relaxed and as happy as they can. Andy keeps herself scarce, almost like she’s avoiding Nile or running away from her. At the same time, she knows they’re talking to Andy, using their considerable powers of persuasion to let Nile have another chance.

She’s still surprised when Andy shows up at her door.

“Nine AM tomorrow, simulation room. Don’t be late,” she says before she turns away and walks away again. Nile’s eyes widen as they look after her, especially when Andy scoffs as she walks past a grinning trio who each look like the cat that got the canary. Nile smiles gratefully at them, nodding her thanks as they walk by. She goes to bed early that night, she has a simulation to prepare for.

She’s more determined before their second drift. She knows Andy is apprehensive and not all that willing to do it again. But she also knows that Booker, Nicky, and Joe have convinced her to try again. She wouldn’t be here if they didn't.

Still, the nervousness and fear she felt on their first try is mostly gone as Booker plugs her back into the simulation. She’s just determined and wanting to prove herself. She doesn’t want to let anyone down again.

“How do you feel?” Nicky asks, smiling as she meets his eyes.

“I’m okay,” she replies, smiling back. “Hopeful, I guess.”

“Hope is a good emotion. It proves you’re willing and open to this experience again.”

“I am. I know what to avoid now.”

“Let’s hope you do,” Andy interjects.

Nile looks over and nods. “I’m not going to let you down again.”

Andy doesn’t reply, but her gaze takes on a curious manner, her eyes once again boring into Nile in the way it had before their last drift. Nile can honestly say she missed it.

“Prove it to me.”

Nile steps into the boot, her eyes on Andy the entire time. Andy’s eyes follow her as well, as they do the last few steps alone as Booker and Nicky walk into the control room where Joe is already waiting.

They both answer in the affirmative when Booker asks them if they’re ready, their eyes still holding as the simulation starts, as the handshake initiates.

And then they’re in the drift. The same scenes as last time move past Nile, her father’s grave bringing the same sense of anger but she lets it go and it drifts past. Same with scenes from her service, scenes of Andy piloting Scythian both alone and with others, scenes with Nile’s family and Andy with hers.

“Right hemisphere calibrated, left hemisphere calibrated. Neural handshake complete,” Nile hears Booker say and she can’t help but smile widely. “Your drift is holding steady, and the numbers are looking good. Congratulations, ladies.”

Andy nods, the tiniest of smiles appearing on her face as Nile smiles even wider. “You ready to try a simulation?”

“Hell yeah,” Nile replies. She feels her heart swell as Andy laughs, surprised and open.

“Level three kaiju, Booker. Let’s test this handshake.”

They decimate the level three within five minutes. And even though it’s just a simulation, Nile can’t help but be incredibly proud.

“That was good,” Andy says a short while later as they disconnect from the simulation and walk into the control room.

“Good? Boss, that was amazing!” Joe exclaims. “Your numbers were in the 90s after one successful try.”

“90s? No way.”

“He’s speaking the truth.” Nicky smiles. “Your numbers were very good.”

“Maybe they were but that doesn’t change anything.” Andy looks at Nile, her gaze deep and steady on hers. “Now the real work begins. You ready?”

Nile nods. She might be proud and feel accomplished in this moment but one drift a partnership does not make. She has to prove herself over and over to get a chance of the actual com pod and not a simulation.

“Tell me what you need. Boss.”

* * *

Once Andy agrees to take Nile on, things hit a rapid speed she couldn’t have dreamed of.

Copley sits her down for daily briefings, she spars with Andy for an hour in the morning, drifts with her in the afternoon. Nile is proud to say that she doesn’t go chasing the white RABIT at all, not since the last time. She’s not about to give Andy another reason to give up on her, and she holds true to that. Even when she’s scared or worried, she doesn’t chase the RABIT. It helps to have Booker there, a dark reminder of what could happen to her if she let those memories get the best of her.

She eats with the other immortals in the canteen at lunch and then goes to Joe and Nicky’s suite for home-cooked meals at dinner. Booker teaches her French, Nicky shows her how to keep a window-sill garden, and Joe shares his sketches.

Andy...well, Andy mostly stares at Nile like she’s a puzzle that she’s trying to figure out.

In some ways it’s… not disturbing, just strange. But she’s been inside Andy’s head, seen some things that tell her small things about what kind of woman Andy is. They still have a lot to learn about one another, her more than Andy, but it feels right. Their partnership feels like something Nile was missing, without even knowing she was missing it.

This though, standing in front of Scythian with Nicky and Joe while Andy is in the com pod, manning Scythian for what will hopefully be the last time alone as she shows off the weapons and features of the obsidian Jaeger, the labrys shaped core on the front gleaming is… powerful. She gets to be in that com pod soon, teaming up with Andy for her first time in a Jaeger and not just in simulation. Her driftsuit is almost done, the com pod will be reverted back to a two-person pilot team come morning, and she’s finally ready to step up and be what she’s meant to be. An immortal, a Jaeger pilot, a teammate. She’s ready to save the world. And if she’s allowed, save Andy a little bit in the process. Not that she needs to be saved but, y’know. Maybe Nile can help her feel better.

She feels a tingle of something when she looks at Andy, though she’s not sure if that’s because of the drift or because of other… interests. It’s not like she’s unused to being attracted to women, and Andy is _gorgeous_ in so many ways. She just doesn’t know if it’s the smartest thing her brain could come up with, since they’re in each other’s heads all the time.

It might be part of the puzzle Andy tries to solve when she looks at her, it wouldn’t surprise her if it was.

Now though, now she focuses on Scythian, focuses on the guns and the laser it carries, she focuses on how one arm turns into the closest thing to a labrys it can, focuses on the warm glow of the core. Andy is only using one of the arms at a time, showing it off until she moves to the other. Scythian is still in its dock, still held steady.

This is just a demonstration. For her. Nile feels herself falling for the giant machine, wonders if this is how Andy felt when she first saw it. Wonders if she’ll feel like this for Andy eventually, a fraction of what Joe and Nicky feel for one another.

She watches, her eyes paying attention to everything until Scythian powers down, the com pod rising to its loading dock. Where she will walk into it tomorrow and truly realize how commanding a Jaeger feels. She’s excited, thrilled. She can’t wait to do it with Andy.

“I’m glad she doesn’t have to do it alone, anymore.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, Nile.” Joe’s hand drapes over her shoulder, squeezing her tight to his side. “It’s been rough for her, piloting alone.”

“She’s never told me about her previous partner. But I’ve seen her in the drift,” Nile replies, her hand circling Joe’s waist. Something about her face seemed familiar, when she saw Quynh in the drift but she can’t put her finger on it.

“She will,” Nicky says from Joe’s other side. “Give her time.”

Nile nods. She doesn’t say anything else, neither do they while they just look up at Scythian, Longsword in the dock next to it. Booker finds them first, stopping next to Nicky and placing a hand on his shoulder. Andy joins them shortly after, back in civilian clothes. She joins Nile, and the five of them just stand side by side, looking up at the two Jaegers, the obsidian of Scythian and the red, blue and silver of Longsword gleaming in the light, technicians running around them doing this and that, a couple of them stopping to ask Booker something before they move on.

“Come on,” Andy says, breaking the silence. She moves off, expecting the rest to follow her. Nile huffs in amusement as the rest of them move after Andy without any questions or comments.

She follows too. Maybe she should be asking herself why.

“Where?” she asks, since no one else seems to be curious.

Joe glances over his shoulder, giving her an excited look that makes Nile feel like she should be worried. “Nicky went to town today,” he says, which are pretty normal words that shouldn’t make him so eager.

“And?”

“You’ll see,” Booker promises, but even _he_ looks thrilled. Given that forBooker, that’s basically the corner of his lips slightly upturned, it takes a keen eye to see it, but Nile’s gotten to know him pretty well, and she can tell when he’s happier than usual. Whatever’s about to happen, he’s excited and eager for it.

Nile’s not sure what could be so exciting in town, but she still takes a seat at one of the tables in the cafeteria, watching as Nicky unearths a _beautifully_ wrapped object. He passes it to Andy, giving Nile a chance to smell it, and it’s rich like a pastry, making Nile’s mouth water as she watches it go.

“Nicky,” Andy chides, shaking her head. “Here? Really?”

“There was a new stall at the market,” Nicky defends himself, leaning back to dig into his pockets. Nile watches curiously as he unearths several folded bills. “My pockets are very poor today,” he laments. “Two hundred, Booker.”

Booker snorts under his breath and takes out two bills to place on the table.

“What’s…”

“You’ll see,” Joe cuts her off, pressing a finger to his mouth, gesturing to Andy.

Andy unwraps the ribbon and drapes it over Nile’s wrist. The gentle brush of fabric makes Nile melt into her seat, she tells herself, and it’s absolutely not the way Andy stares at her the whole time she does (and nothing, Nile insists, nothing at all with the mental image of thick ribbons that Andy might use to tie her up). She’s almost so distracted that she doesn’t see Nicky holding out an identical package to her.

Nile isn’t sure what it is, but she still takes it. Unwrapping it doesn’t help, and she’s still just as lost as to what Booker and Nicky are betting on.

“Smell it,” Andy coaxes, when Nile unwraps the package to reveal that it’s some kind of pastry that she doesn’t recognize.

Nile lifts it up to inhale deeply, mindful of the fact that four sets of eyes are staring at her like this is some kind of test like daily sparring or com pod simulations. “I smell … pomegranate?”

That earns a bright smile from Andy that has Nile leaping to do it again. Her heart beats quicker for the joy on her face, and Nile takes a delicate bite of the corner, thinking that it’s good, but it’s not like it’s a blackberry pie with ice cream on top, or biscuits with honey drizzled over them. She might have to take it back, though, because Andy takes a generous bite and closes her eyes as she sinks back in her chair, making ridiculously obscene noises.

“Kid already called it,” Andy mumbles around the mouthful. “Pomegranate.”

“Don’t call me kid,” Nile bristles again, for more reasons than her initial issues with the nickname. She doesn’t want Andy to see her as a child, for reasons that she thought she’d left behind in the drift.

“Rosewater,” Andy lists thoughtfully, as Booker starts to count on his fingers.

Nile watches, puzzled, not sure what’s going on. Joe nudges her with his elbow, pointing to Andy, like he’s trying to make sure she’s looking in the right place. “Hazelnut,” she muses. “Not walnut.” She takes another bite, shaking her head. “Nicky, what’s a vendor from the Black Sea doing in a place like this?”

Booker whistles, like the sound of someone falling from a great height, and Nile watches disappointment cross Nicky’s face.

Whatever’s happening, it’s not to his advantage.

“Eastern Turkey,” Andy confirms with a smug smile that Nile wants to kiss off.

Booker releases a giant whooping sound that startles Nile, watching him with a joyful shock as he laughs loudly and collects the money on the table, “Grazie mille, Nicky” falling from his lips as Nicky groans in disappointment and Joe laughs alongside Booker.

“Santa Maria madre di Dio,” Joe says as Nicky replies with, “Prego, prego, prego.”

Nile can’t help but laugh with them though she also can’t take her eyes off Andy licking her thumb as she eats the last morsel of the baklava Nicky had given her. Shit, she needs a distraction.

“What do you do, when you’re not doing this?”

“Joe teaches human pilots. Confuses them with flowery speeches about Nicky when they ask him about how their drift compatibility is so high.” Andy snorts. “For some reason it actually works.”

“It’s because my love for Nicolò is eternal and people can see that. Nine hundred years and more and I will never tire of my beloved.” Joe looks over at Nicky. “It brings people hope that a love like that can exist for them.”

“That fact that he’s very handsome also helps.”

“That too.” As if unsatisfied with only explaining what he does, Joe gestures to Nicky with a casual point. “Nicky sneaks to town to find things at the market, loses money on bets to Booker, and then disappears into the galley to help cook for the people here.”

“It’s good to have hobbies,” Nicky says, earnestly.

“Booker teaches,” Andy continues, and he scowls like he’s been sold out.

“Comms and setting up the simulations and for a battle?”

Andy reaches over the table for Nile’s unfinished baklava, shaking her head. “Booker teaches the kids that are here,” she corrects, raising her brows like she’s just unearthed some dirt on him, instead of something really sweet. “He runs the grade school out of one of the unused sparring rooms.”

“Boss,” Booker complains with a groan.

Nile isn’t sure what she’s missing here. “That’s sweet,” she protests.

“That’s why I don’t want her going around painting me with that brush. I need the kids to be scared of me, so they do their homework.”

“Those kids love you, Booker. I’m afraid that ship has sailed a very long time ago,” Nicky replies and Booker’s lip curls in something close to annoyance, but Nile can also see the way his eyes shine.

“Lies and slander,” Booker says which causes Nicky to snort, something rather uncharacteristic for him, which in turn causes Joe to chuckle which sets off Andy. The rich laughter makes Nile grin, like a balm to her soul.

“He also spends time with Copley,” Joe says with a grin as Booker rolls his eyes but a slight warmth enters his face.

“Yeah, yeah, teasing Booker hours are over,” Booker replies which just makes Joe wink at him.

Nile feels herself going warm all over as Andy keeps eye contact with her as she finishes the rest of the baklava, can’t help but look at her mouth as Andy once again licks her thumb. She reins her emotions in, she’s not here to lust after her partner. Instead she casts her mind to another question. One that isn’t particularly nice but she still needs to know.

“What happens when people notice that we’re not getting any older?” Nile asks quietly.

Kaiju are a recent threat that the people of Earth have had to deal with. Andy and her team can’t have been fighting them long enough to have to vanish, which begs the question of what happens to them when suddenly they need to move on? How will they be able to do it, with the threat still looming?

Maybe Nile is answering her own question. As much as they are an open secret, someone finding out for sure would probably be devastating for them.

Maybe they don’t move on until they fight and defeat the kaiju for good, skilled in a way that human pilots can’t be. She watches the others exchange a long look, and she knows that they don't have the answer either.

“We figure we have about ten years before anyone notices,” Joe admits, reaching across the table to take Nicky’s hand in his, stroking his thumb over the back of his palm. “Booker has that aged old man thing going and I could always dye my hair grey,” he admits, but then he turns to Nicky with a fond smile. “My beloved would give us away, as would you,” he admits, turning to her. “In ten years, with not a single wrinkle or change in both your youthful faces, we’d be found out.”

“We’ll leave, then,” Andy admits. “Copley will help us disappear. It’s just a question of how we can do some good. Maybe we’ll take new aliases, dye our hair, and start a new Shatterdome.”

“I always like when we wear wigs,” Joe quips.

“Better than bleaching my hair,” Booker mutters.

“Wait, you’ve bleached your hair?” she asks. Booker shoots Joe an annoyed glare, which Joe just grins at. Oh there’s a story here that she needs to know, especially from the grins both Nicky and Andy tried to hide as Booker glares at them too.

“Let me tell you about Sydney in ‘95, Nile, and the glorious sight of Sébastien as a bleach blonde surfer boy.”

She laughs more than she’s laughed in a long time that evening, as they tell her ridiculous stories, everyone trying to one-up each other in who makes her laugh the hardest. She watches as Booker slowly relaxes, even smiles properly, as Joe and Nicky love one another dearly while still telling the most embarrassing stories of the other, as Andy devours every piece of baklava she can find. She can’t help how it feels like home.

* * *

Nile wakes from another nightmare.

She’d thought they’d go away when she met the others, but this one hasn’t. This one makes Nile shoot up with worry, gripping her mattress as she hunches over herself to breathe deeply, trying to calm herself down. The last time, she hadn’t seen it as clearly, but this time, there’s no denying that it had been Quynh.

Andy’s Quynh, a woman she’s lost, but not as lost as she’d thought.

She’s going to have to tell Andy about it, but thinking about the red flashes of lightning and the crushing pressure of water doesn’t leave Nile feeling good about it. Wherever Quynh is, she’s dying constantly, drowned by the pressure of water or atmosphere. It had felt foreign to her, leaving Nile to wonder if she should even tell Andy.

Maybe this is the kind of thing Booker can give her advice about. Nile reaches towards her nightstand to find her phone, but in the middle of texting for his advice, an alarm starts blaring that she’s only ever heard in training before.

 _Kaiju_.

It’s time. Nile’s been waiting for an attack with an excitement that she hasn’t shared with anyone, because how do you tell someone that you’re _waiting_ for an alien monster to surface on Earth, just so you can see how badass you’ll be? Nile gets the feeling if she did say something, it wouldn’t fall on deaf ears. She can see the way Andy twitches, eager for a battle, and how Booker keeps glancing at the clock for the last appearance, clearly angling for the next. Joe and Nicky have been sparring every morning to burn energy, and it makes Nile think that she’s not the only immortal spoiling for a battle.

What’s different is that it will be her first. It will be hers and Andy’s first time. Nile hasn’t felt this excited since...well, since she and Andy first fought together and the adrenaline surged in her blood like she’d finally found the other half of her.

Nile shoves the phone away and grabs her shit, bolting out into the hall in time to see Booker pounding on doors to wake the human pilots up. He gives her a light nudge. “Keep moving,” he directs. “I put your suit out, it’s with Andy.”

She races to the locker room, bursts inside to find Andy already there.

“Don't hurt yourself just yet,” Andy says. “At least put your suit on first.”

But Nile can’t really hear her, she’s more occupied with looking at the brand new drift suit hanging on one of the lockers. _Her_ locker. A small excited sound escapes her, but she doesn’t care if Andy heard. She’s too excited to put it on, pulling on the undersuit first before she starts fitting on the pieces that make up the actual shell of the suit, runs light fingers over the ports that will fit the wires connecting to the com pod. She pulls on the gloves, clenching her fingers to see how they feel, lifts her arms and legs to feel the stretch, moves around to get a feel for the fit.

The suit fits her like a glove, the way she knew it would. All sleek, obsidian black like Andy’s with a labrys, the logo of Scythian on the black outlined in slight gold, not unlike the glow of the core.

She startles when she sees the forest green detailing. She looks up at Andy, but Andy only winks -- and she knows why the details are there. Andy knows her mind by now, with the amount of times they’ve drifted. She knows green is Nile’s favorite color, especially that deep green that reminds her of the forests her dad loved to show her when she was little. The fact that Andy incorporated that in her - _their_ , she sees as she studies Andy - drift suits makes her heart flutter just the tiniest bit. But they have no time for flutters of the heart, they have a kaiju sighting to deal with.

Nile swallows the thanks, the gratitude, and nods, once, walking after Andy as she leaves their locker room. Nicky and Joe meet them as they exit, clad in their own magnificent drift suits so like the coloring of Longsword. They walk in front of her and Andy, she’s delighted to see that while Nicky does have a longsword as the logo on his back, Joe has a scimitar. She swallows the giggle that threatens to escape her, but she knows she’s still been caught when Joe turns to look at her with a smug smile. There’s probably a story there too.

They’re in the control room sooner than later, listening to Copley as he tells them what they’re dealing with. Sabertooth, category four. At least it will be a proper trial by fire for her.

“Good luck ladies and gentlemen. And godspeed,” Copley says as he sends them off to their com pods, staying behind with Booker. Standing very close to Booker too, interesting.

“You ready for this?” Andy asks as she steps into the com pod with Nile. Technicians run around them, hooking them up to the actual com pod of Scythian, an obvious upgrade to the simulation room. Here everything is so sleek, so new, kept in the best shape for what they’re about to do. Nile knows she shouldn’t be excited for a kaiju showing up but it means she gets to do this. Her test is no longer a test, it’s a reality.

“Oh, I’m ready,” Nile replies as she steps into the boots, the spine of her suit attaching to the exoskeleton around her, wrapping around her arms like an embrace. She calibrates her screen like Andy taught her, listens to Booker’s voice in the background telling her they’re ready for the neural handshake, goes through it, and dives through her memories, through Andy’s memories until she’s out on the other side.

“Neural handshake complete, numbers holding steady. Scythian, you have a go. Longsword is calibrated and ready to join you,” Booker says loud and clear. There’s something like pride in his voice, it’s really good to hear.

Nile looks over at Andy, sees Andy looking back at her with a feral grin on her face.

They move, and Scythian moves with them.


End file.
